Impact of fauna on mortality and size of Haematobia spp. (Diptera: Muscidae) in natural dung pads in Australia and South Africa

Abstract

Two field experiments examined the effect of dung fauna on the breeding success of Haematobia irritans exigua DeMeijere at Rockhampton, Australia, and Haematobia thirouxi potans (Bezzi) at Hluhluwe Game Reserve, Republic of South Africa. Dung pads naturally infested with Haematobia eggs were produced by cattle at Rockhampton and by Cape buffalo at Hluhluwe. Pads were either exposed to, or protected from, all dung fauna for various periods up to four days. The effect of dung fauna on the immature stages of Haematobia spp. was estimated from differences in the numbers and size of flies that emerged from treated and control pads. In the first experiment, pads produced during the morning and afternoon were exposed for one, two or four days on seven different occasions. At Rockhampton, fauna-induced mortality was substantial but did not increase significantly after the pads had been exposed for one day. At Hluhluwe, in pads produced during the morning, fauna-induced mortality rose substantially with duration of exposure; in afternoon pads the increase was not statistically significant. Fly size, indicated by the mean headcapsule width of surviving females, decreased as exposure of pads to dung fauna increased from zero to four days, except in the afternoon pads at Rockhampton. In the second experiment, pads produced in the afternoon were exposed in the field for four days on 16 occasions at Rockhampton, and on 17 at Hluhluwe. Fauna-induced mortality averaged 79% and 84%, respectively. The activities of the dung fauna reduced the headcapsule widths of surviving flies by an average 2% at Rockhampton and by 7% at Hluhluwe, despite similar levels of dung dispersal. The dung fauna associated with the highest mortality of H. irriatans exigua at Rockhampton were Scarabaeinae and Macrocheles spp., while there were no significant associations between fly mortality and particular fauna in the Hluhluwe data.